Parent & Student Matters  

What's happening in the College? 

• Tuition Statements for Term 4, 2019
• Year 12 Parent Information Evening
• 2019 Chinese Language and Culture Immersion Tour
• Education Perfect 2019 World Series Awards
• Kokoda track Expedition 2020 – Participants Training Hike
• Willoughby City Library  -  Chatswood's newest gaming group:   Connect Tabletop Nights - for ages 16+ 
• Brothers OZTAG
• CatchEm Surf & Adventure Action

•    -  Block 42 - 3D Animation Filmmaking Workshop for Years 7 and 8 students
•  

Tuition Statements for Term 4, 2019

Tuition Statements for Term 4, 2019 were emailed to all families at the end of last term.  If you did not receive your statement, please contact the Finance Office urgently at fees@stpiusx.nsw.edu.au.

Payment of Term 4 fees was due on Monday 14 October 2019 (unless a payment arrangement is in place with the College).

Mr N Carson - Business Manager

Year 12 Parent Information Evening

The Year 12 Parent Information Evening will be held on Tuesday 22 October at 6pm in the College Gym. Students are advised to attend, in school uniform. 

Ms Donna Janes - Year 12 Coordinator

2019 Chinese Language and Culture Immersion Tour

Welcome back to Term 4! What an amazing break it has been, especially for students in Years 9, 10 and 11 Chinese classes who had a remarkable experience travelling to China over the Term 3 holidays.

The 26 students, accompanied by Mr Couani, Mrs Couani, Ms Ho and Ms Manga, travelled to Beijing, Xian and Shanghai to experience the Chinese language and culture first hand. It was a wonderful time of the year to visit China, taking in the 70th Anniversary celebrations, which were proudly on display in each city that we had the pleasure to visit.

Our tour began in Beijing after touching down on 28 September. Shortly after arriving, we settled in on campus at the Beijing Language and Cultural College, where we attended Language and Culture classes with Mrs Wang and Mr Deng. Our language classes were fun, but we especially enjoyed the extracurricular classes, with Chinese martial arts - Wushu and Tai Chi being firm favourites. In only one lesson, our students had a 19 move routine down pat!

After 4 days on campus, we moved into Beijing city. It was 1 October, Chinese National Day, so the city was in full celebration. The Chinese flag was displayed in every shop front and the streets were dressed to impress, with decorative garden beds all over the city. In Beijing, we visited many of the well-known attractions, such as the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City (Palace Museum), The Summer Palace, not to mention eating the infamous Beijing Duck and taking in a Shaolin Monk Performance at the Red Theatre. 

Our time in Beijing was wonderful, but could not compare to the marvellous day spent at Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China. The students were in complete awe of this colossal structure, which is not like anything you could imagine, without experiencing it yourself. The stairs were steep and challenged the fitness of the students and teachers alike.

After our time in Beijing, the tour continued onto the ancient city of Xian in Shaanxi Province, capital city for several imperial dynasties. It was here that we were able to develop an understanding of ancient China, visiting Banpo Neolithic Village. The Banpo site is a typical Neolithic matriarchal community of the Yangshao Culture dating back about 6,000 years. It was interesting to see firsthand how the earliest inhabitants lived in China. We then went to visit the Terracotta Warriors, a World Heritage Site, dating back 2,500 years to the Qin Dynasty. The Terracotta Warriors were buried with China’s first Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, to accompany him into the afterlife. We were in awe of the site and the restoration that was taking place whist we observed. It was yet another wow moment during the tour. After cycling the ancient city walls and Bell Tower, visiting the Wild Goose Pagoda and Da’Cien Temple, a well-preserved ancient building and a holy place for Buddhists, the group visited the Muslim Quarter Markets. Xian allowed us to see how the Silk Road not only allowed China to import and export goods on the ancient trading route, but how this in-turn established Xian as  vibrant, multicultural city, home to many people, languages, cultures, customs and religions. It is truly an amazing city to visit.

Our final tour destination was Shanghai, were east meets west in a flurry of bright neon lights and classical 19th Century European Architecture. Here we visited the Shanghai World Financial Centre, one of China’s tallest towers to view the city from the Observation Floor. Again, we cruised the Huangpo River taking in the site of the Bund and had a visit to Shanghai Zoo to see the Pandas. The highlight of out Shanghai visit was the opportunity to visit Tianshan Middle School, where we met with students to share language and culture. Our students performed a bilingual version of Waltzing Matilda and a Chinese Friendship Song, named “Pengyou”. Our hosts performed classical music demonstrations with the Guzheng and Pipa, as well as a choir performance and Salsa Dance routine. The day was topped off with a friendly basketball match with the Tianshan Boy’s team. It really was a great occasion to spend the day with friends in Shanghai and we hope that this will lead to an even closer friendship between our schools in the years to come.

Finally, a huge thank you to our students who were great ambassadors for the College, Mr Couani, Mrs Couani and Ms Ho, who all gave up their holiday to accompany the students on tour and of course our Parent body, who supported us all every step of the way.

Stay tuned for some more reflections from our Year 9,10 and 11 students in the upcoming weeks.

Ms Kara Manga - Teacher in Charge LOTE

Education Perfect 2019 World Series Awards

During Semester 3 St Pius X College took part in the annual Education Perfect World Series Language Championships. The competition was available to all Language students in Year 5-12. Our students were great participants, earning 29,437 points from the 81, 671 questions that were answered. Overall, SPX achieved a ranking of 357th out of the 1,644 participating school worldwide. We were 274th in Australia of 1,178 schools. In Chinese, we achieved 72nd out of 1,039 school, improving on our previous year’s results. In French, we were 346th of 1,237 school. Congratulations to our students who also took the opportunity to participate in other Languages, such as German 176th of 994 schools and Italian, 207th of 933 schools.

Of the students who participated, there were some outstanding results. Congratulations to Andrew Guerrera, Year 9 Chinese, for achieving the College’s first-ever Emerald Award. Andrew answered 14,655 questions, placing him in the top 1% of all participants Worldwide. Congratulation also to Ethan Li, Year 7 Chinese, for achieving a Gold Award, for the top 2% of the 150,000 competitors world-wide. A special mention also to Lachlan Melloy, Year 6 Chinese, who is our first-ever Junior School recipient of a Bronze Award.

Overall, we are pleased with the student participation in the Education Perfect Competition and hope to encourage more students to be involved in future years. In the classroom, teachers can see that students participating and using Education Perfect are improving their understanding, positively influencing their own learning. It is great to see so many of our students engaging constructively in learning and developing their skills independently.

Kokoda track Expedition 2020 – Participants Training Hike

The third of our training hikes is locked in for Sunday 3 November 2019 when we will be walking from Berowra to Cowan, a distance of 12.9km.  This is an opportunity for all participants to meet, prepare and to discuss all aspects of the Kokoda Track Expedition 2020.

• When:  Sunday 3 November 2020
• Meet:    Cowan train station at 7.45am (Train to Berowra 8.02am arrives 8.09am)
• Finish:   Cowan train station 12.30-1.00pm (approx.)
• Need:    2 litres of water (refill at Berowra Waters), hat, sunscreen, snacks, OPAL card, sense of humour

In the event of track work we can do a car shuffle from Cowan to Berowra. In the event of track closures due to controlled burns we will decide on an alternate route.  All member of the College community are welcome to attend these hikes.  

Next Hikes:  (Please note that I will confirm the following hikes as we move closer to the dates.)

4.             Sunday 1 December 2019

5.             Sunday 5 January 2020 (own training)

6.             Sunday 2 February 2020

Photo:  Members of the College community enjoying a bushwalk from Cowan to Brooklyn during last Sunday's Training Hike.

Mr Paul de Silva - Outdoor Education Coordinator

National Ride2Work Day

Ms Frances Doyle, Mr Nick Cook and Mr Phil Stollery rode their bikes to school today in support of the National Ride2Work Day.

National Ride2Work Day is Australia's largest celebration of commuter riding. Held annually in October, the day celebrates the benefits of riding to work and brings together the communities that support it. The main objective of the day is to normalise the idea of riding to work. 

Willoughby City Library Events

Play games with Chatswood's newest gaming group:   Connect Tabletop Nights - for ages 16+

Please see the flyer below for details.

Block 42 - 3D Animation Filmmaking Workshop

Free 3D animation filmmaking workshop for Years 7 and 8 students  at Chatswood Library – 409 Victoria Ave, Chatswood on Sunday 20 October 2019 from 2:30 – 4:30pm

Chatswood Library has teamed with local software developer, Block 42, to run a workshop creating 3D animation films.  This promises more than just a fun afternoon – it will also help with physics, coding and visual spatial concepts.  

Visit the Library events page to secure a place.   http://www.willoughby.nsw.gov.au/library/

For enquiries ring 9777-7900

Brothers OZTAG

• 22 October 2019 to 10 March 2020 (in term time only)
• All games at Tunks Park, Cammeray
• For ages 5-16

See the flyer below for full details

CatchEm Surf & Adventure Action

CatchEm Action is a surfing facilitation service that enables kids to purse their passion for surfing and the ocean by providing transport and surf supervision to children who are troubled by distance to the beach.  Please see details below.